A Dark Moment
by pari106
Summary: Anakin's turning causes him to hurt Padme.


A Dark Moment  
by pari106  
  
Disclaimer: not mine; rating: PG-13 so far; Code: AU. Summary: Anakin's turning   
causes him to hurt Padme.  
  
  
A/N: Please review so I know if I should keep writing in this fandom.  
  
A Dark Moment  
by pari106  
  
The darkness.  
  
It did not come washing over him…washing away what was good underneath…like he   
thought it might. No, it came in moments. In increments. It did not overwhelm; it   
encroached.  
  
Perhaps that is why he didn't see it coming until it was too late…until he was already   
taken.  
  
It was not something he analyzed, or was even aware of. When the dark moments came,   
it was like he was a different person. Acting autonomously of his kinder, lighter self. He   
didn't even know the things that he did while the darkness had him.   
  
Didn't know why that handmaiden was with him, suddenly, in his and Amidala's suite.   
Couldn't remember how they'd got there. Couldn't think. Didn't even question the   
"why"s and the "how"s and the "what next"s for more than a moment.  
  
It was all happening so fast… And it was as if it wasn't even happening to him. Yet he   
was the instigator in this situation; he somehow knew that. Knew it in the way the   
handmaiden smiled, shyly…blushing innocently. He couldn't even recall her name.  
  
But their robes came off…hers first, then his. Mouths devoured…hands explored…  
  
And he couldn't remember why they shouldn't. Her taste was so sweet and her touch so   
warm… And he knew, suddenly, that he just had to have all of her.  
  
And so he did.  
  
  
  
**** ****  
  
  
  
It was pure chance that had her stopping by their suite, after the morning's conference   
before heading to the next.  
  
Pure chance and dumb luck. She'd forgotten some materials she needed for her next   
round of beaurocratic duties, and her handmaiden, Miral…whom she'd left to care for the   
suite she shared with her husband…was not responding to her communiqués. Therefore   
there was no one to play fetch for her, and she didn't assume she'd be able to reach   
Anakin. He was undoubtedly training. Or having lunch with Chancellor Palpatine and   
his cronies…as he did all too often.  
  
Or perhaps he was on a new mission? Padme truly wouldn't know. She knew so little   
about her own husband's activities these days.  
  
Sometimes…she felt as though it were a stranger she was sharing her life with…her bed.   
And the despair of this…of lost love…tore at her heart.  
  
But she didn't want to think about that as she entered her home…thinking it odd that the   
door was unlocked. Perhaps Miral was there, after all. So why had she been unreachable   
by the com?  
  
Padme didn't want to think melancholy thoughts. She didn't have the energy for them.   
She wanted to get her things and get to her meeting…not lament on how little she knew   
about the man she'd married.  
  
And then…  
  
She suddenly realized she knew even less than she'd thought.   
  
For a sound reached her ears…quiet at first, then gaining volume as the lovers in the next   
room reached completion. Padme stilled…as if frozen where she stood. They were   
lovers, alright…the sounds that reached Padme's ears, coming from the bedroom, were   
that of a man and woman making love. Gasps…moans… The sound of a bed, *her*   
bed, shaking with the force of the movements the lovers made atop it…  
  
And amidst it all…voices. Two voices. One was Miral's. And the other…  
  
"Yes…" The word was spoken in a rough, ragged tone…full of satisfaction. The word   
was spoken by…  
  
"Anakin…"  
  
His name left Padme's numb lips on a breath; no louder than the softest whisper.  
  
Her husband, Anakin, was making love to another woman. Her own handmaiden, Miral.   
And in their own bed.  
  
Padme stumbled backwards out of their suite, clutching her abdomen as though she'd   
been struck. She felt as though she had. Nothing…none of the despair…the discord that   
had marked the last year of her marriage…had prepared her for this. This…the ultimate   
betrayal.  
  
Padme turned and fled, as the tears began to build…needing desperately to be alone   
before they fell.   
  
Feeling as though she were going to be violently sick. 


End file.
